


A Matter Of Life And Death

by Saoirse Mooney (achuislemochroi)



Series: Narniafic [25]
Category: Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types, Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Drowning/Near-Drowning, M/M, POV Edmund Pevensie, Rating is for Themes, Setting: Dawn Treader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-18
Updated: 2017-04-18
Packaged: 2018-10-20 17:02:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10666977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/achuislemochroi/pseuds/Saoirse%20Mooney
Summary: Trying to breathe is more painful than you’d thought possible.





	A Matter Of Life And Death

**Author's Note:**

> Filmverse, although the encounter with the Sea Serpent is in its bookverse setting.

Thanks to that bloody Sea Serpent you’re lying on the _Dawn Treader_ ’s deck at least half-drowned, and you’re finding trying to breathe is more painful than you’d thought possible. You’d thought you were done for when the Serpent came crashing towards you, and can’t quite understand how you’re still alive.

But enough of that. Caspian, your whole world and then some, is cradling you in his arms; it feels _so good_ , and all you can think about is how you want to lose yourself in him again. It’s been so long. He is screaming for Lucy; for the Cordial, you assume. Although as soon as you think it the thought disappears again; you’re struggling for air, and it’s impossible for you to focus on anything else.

You want to touch Caspian, cup his face with your hand, the way you used to do without even thinking about it when you were here before, with him, when you’d just found each other only to be torn apart. If you can just manage that, you’d be persuaded this is real, he and you are together again, and this isn’t yet another of the nightmare-laced dreams plaguing your endless nights trapped in England without him.

Your hand is too heavy and, before it gets anywhere near Caspian’s face, you let it drop to your side.

Caspian. You want to focus on Caspian. You want to let yourself drown in him, this man you’ve missed so very much, but you’re finding it more and more difficult to breathe. Just typical of your luck; you find him again, the one person who’s ever mattered to you this way in the slightest, and you’re going to die on him.

_What do you suppose happens at home_ , Peter’s voice bleeds through your memory, _if you die here?_ You have the oddest feeling you’re going to find out.

You half-cough half-choke, desperate for air and terrified by a sudden and extreme light-headedness. It gets you Caspian’s full attention, and although the panic in his voice is clear, you can’t hear what he’s trying to say to you. And you’re trying so hard to stay with him, because nothing else would please you more, but everything is too hard to do without air. The last thing you hear before you lose consciousness is Caspian’s voice: pleading with you, desperate, and repeating your name in a litany of pain.


End file.
